351: Your favorite boys' favorite bags
And how Harry Tibble wears it.
Welcome to Magasin Menswear. In a dedicated bimonthly send, Louis Cheslaw surfaces choice products worth your consideration, explores larger conversations shoppers are—or should be—having, and taps a smart dresser to share how he wears it.
First up…
I just took my friend to Chimi, and we both liked these new unisex brown-on-black sunglasses, which felt incredibly light on the head.
They’ll hate me for saying it, but three menswear designers I know have been quietly buying Massimo Dutti for themselves. The brand seems to be positioning as a better-priced The Row—the styling, minus those shoes, is definitely persuasive.
Stopped into Ven. Space again this week, where friendly floor guy Axel was wearing this special Evan Kinori jacket, while I just played with this spring-weight Cale jacket for a third time in a month. I also got owner/buyer extraordinaire Chris Green’s daily bag ID—see below.
I got caught in raw denim in 80 degree-heat, so ended up grabbing J. Crew’s classic chino in stone. Very substantial. Also checked out the new Paloma Wool store: This was not for me; these two were.
Speaking of, I also saw silver sneakers there, and at Dries, and at Nike (twice!) Not convinced, but if we’re talking sneaker colors, I think Colin Meredith’s new ROA treatment is very special.
Lastly, I am loving how many little dark full-zips are available. I’d wear any and all of these tomorrow: Studio Nicholson, Auralee, Lady White, Carter Young, Mfpen, No Maintenance.
A good man bag is hard to find
I’d be lying if I said I’d always wanted to write about guys and their bags. Until recently, my own bags had been something of an afterthought—I have too many (five or six), and none of them are really right (sorry to my sweet little LeSportsac.) But more and more, I’ve wanted to clear my whole collection out in favor of having just one that’s exactly right and can take a beating. But… which one?
To help, I asked the best-dressed guys I know about what they use. The results are below. If there’s one key takeaway, it’s that—unless you’re going to hunt for designer deals on TheRealReal—Porter, Montbell, and Lemaire are some of the best out. Oh, and also that it’s aggravatingly hard to find a good leather shoulder bag, but so many of us are searching anyway.
The Nylons
Nylon was the one category where truly winning bags emerged, so it feels right to start here. Porter-Yoshida & Co., perhaps unsurprisingly, got more nods than any other brand: Palmes founder Nikolaj Hansson uses this exact model, which can fit a laptop, clothes, and gym shoes—I prefer those dimensions to this similar tote, but that first one is harder to find.
Meanwhile, Mfpen’s Hugo Edwards uses this rare blue one, while Haider Ackermann design team member Horace Page uses a vintage Beams x Porter messenger. While none of those are particularly easy to find right now, the message is clear: You can buy any Porter nylon bag with peace of mind. (Buyer Dom Finnigan wants the new duffel, which does look great.) I’m seriously considering this one, though Studio Nicholson also recently launched a deadly nylon line.
The next most popular nylon number was Montbell’s Ripstop series, beloved by Studio Nicholson’s Felix Sullivan, Horace again, and Nick Dierl, who uses this model when he isn’t using his Colbo tote. Elsewhere, Pat O’Rourke uses a Veilance tote, while Colin Meredith rocks his own Static bag in black, and John Sunyer is years into his nylon Mfpen backpack. Hampus von Hauswolff pointed me towards Man-tle’s neon snap messenger, which is based on a Royal Mail delivery bag. And finally, it’s a very different kind of nylon, but Shyam Mervana—better known to many as Throwing Fits’ “Chef”—shares this Issey Miyake knapsack with his girlfriend.
The Canvas
Canvas was the next most popular material—but in beefy, structured form, not the sad, stringy giveaway tote style we all know and loathe. My favorite example, beating out even the lovely Man-tle Jebok? Ven. Space’s Chris Green’s Lemaire belted tote, pictured above. (If the ash black wasn’t OOS, my whole search would probably be done.) The very same Lemaire bag was shouted out by writer Chris Maradiaga, though he also has plenty of fun daily with this CDG piece. Speaking of fun ones, Heavies’ Chris Gayomali told me he’s ended up loving and loyal to his Erewhon tote ever since his Yohji one fell apart.
Porter, however, also excels in the canvas world. Hampus’s everyday bag comes from them (see below)—it’s a canvas option, but with a smart rubber lining that keeps it waterproof. (He also likes this Comoli canvas bag.) Finnigan, meanwhile, uses mfpen’s eyelet bag, but in brown. And Chris Kontos, the editor of Kennedy, uses the same handsome Japanese tote as a former Condé Nast colleague of mine.
As for the brand-side folks: No Maintenance makes a canvas Sling Bag that the founders designed for themselves, to fit both gym and work stuff. (They worked on it with bag supremo Joel Wilson, whose name kept coming up in my reporting; designer Oliver Church himself likes this Joel Wilson piece too.) Lady White Co.’s Taylor Caruso remains deeply loyal to the brand’s Utility Tote, and this was a year ago, but I remember All Blues’ Jacob Skragge wearing the giant Stüssy-Our Legacy tote on my Stockholm trip.
Lastly, regarding sturdy canvas totes, I’d be remiss not to mention the L.L.Bean Boat and Tote—Intramural’s Bijan Shahvali swears by it, as does my friend Jordan Stone, though he also uses this Green Mountain Products one. Though I’ve had my head turned more than once by Alex Mill’s Weekday Tote, which writer Jake Woolf uses most days, in black. (He has every size they make, and says this is the best most of the time.)
The Leathers
It’s the most durable yet most difficult category to get right, because if you make a mistake, it’s an expensive one. As Hampus says: “I have been on the lookout for a shoulder bag in leather for some time, but I find it really hard to find a good one.” Same. As if proving the point, Carter Young’s Carter Altman uses a monogrammed letter bag that Roots Canada made in the early 2000s, and interior designer Addison Byrd replied to my thirsty email about his bags by revealing they were from a “sadly forgotten brand, Henry Beguelin, and part of a collection exclusively sold to Barneys.” The only exact model is on eBay, for over $3,000.
GQ’s Samuel Hine, above, found his vintage, laser-cut logo Prada tote on “what must have been, like, page 16” of TheRealReal—“right before they show you the bags that already got sold.” Clearly, the best leather bag deals are to be found on resale, but of the current ones on the market, I like Ssstein’s, Studio Nicholson’s, and the new Florist bucket bag. (Stephon Carson told me he uses this daily, which looks special, while Nico Lazaro uses this ingenious bit of design, and Burberry’s Robert Bell uses Loewe’s Puzzle Bags.)
And further help is on the way: Kartik Research has been wear-testing a brown leather one, launching soon, and shared an exclusive image with Magasin, above.
How Harry Tibble wears it
You’d expect the co-founder of London’s best designer vintage store, La Nausée, to dress well. But without overdoing it, Harry Tibble dresses really well. As a model as well as a student of fashion history, his love for it was evident from the second he explained to me on my first visit that the Allegri coat I was looking at was actually from the period Giorgio Armani was designing for the brand. (It looked like this green trench, and yes I got it, not least because their pricing is beyond reasonable.) It’s probably the quickest I’ve wanted someone to do an HHWI, and I’m grateful he was down.
If you're at home looking at your wardrobe, what have you worn for the longest?
The one that really comes to mind is this Veronique Branquinho jacket that I've had since 2019 that I bought off Japanese auctions. It's just been something that I can always grab and put on top of anything, and it’s been able to change with me in terms of my body shape or even my changing style. It’s just a classic zip up jacket with a couple of patch pockets on the chest.
I've not heard that name.
She’s Belgian and was among the Antwerp Six. She made menswear for a short while, and I love the way that her cuts are almost awkward, which I think is why they can be worn with anything.
Do you have any philosophy for what you buy yourself?
It's about finding pieces that don't hold their space so much that they can't be worn with a wide range of things.
What's something you have multiples of?
I usually do that in trousers. I have a couple of pairs of these Margiela flight trousers from 2003. I had all three colours, but I think someone stole the beige pair. I've got them in khaki green and yellow. They've got no waistband, and they just fall so nicely on the shoe and they have one little zip at the bottom and two little flat pockets at the top. Nice and wide, but not too wide. And just a nice cotton, crispy material as well. The green pair is shredded, there are bits hanging on by a thread. The Margiela McQueen trouser is in my opinion one of the best trousers ever—it has no side seam, so when you're moving or it sits on the shoe, it creases perfectly.
What’s a recent addition that represents a direction your style's going in now?
I've been really into Versace recently, through the influence of one of my friends and some of the stuff we've been buying in the store. I never thought I would get into it because of the big shoulder pads, but I've got this lightweight bomber that has a very deep V in the front, so it's great for summer, but it's also got these nice little padded shoulders which give me this almost like, American jock feeling, but in a very elegant way.
What's a piece that has sentimental value to you?
One of the first things I got, in 2014, that really opened up this world to me is this pair of grey Helmut Lang jeans. I used to wear Palace, then Gosha Rubchinskiy, and when I bought the Helmut, I was like, "Oh, I can wear these with my Vans." But then I realized they were insane, and it opened me up to researching way more.
Is there something you have your eye on next?
It's Armani, obviously. An Emporio Armani leather asymmetrical jacket that my friend has. It's fully leather and then it's got a little knitted collar. I can't stop thinking about it. I'm very privileged to have access to a lot of vintage, but this one is very, very elusive. One day hopefully he'll let me swipe it off him, but for now he's like, I'm holding onto it, I'm holding onto it.
And what's the story of your "3" cap?
That's the 3MAN cap, by my friend Josh. He is very influenced by Helmut amd Armani, but his brand is very much his brand. And I just love that cap. Again, it's a bit American jock. I've worn it with a suit before; I've worn it with trackies. It's a nice thing to just put on. And the “3” always gets people wondering: "What is it?"
Any brands you're into outside of clothing?
A skincare brand called Horace. I think it's super affordable and just a great product. When I run out, you can really see the difference. The face wash, the moisturizer and the serums are fantastic.
Do you have a silhouette that feels most you? I was looking back through your Instagram, and it seems like you never go too wide-leg.
Up top, I like a smaller, often cropped fit. It makes me feel comfortable to know that the first layer of fabric is on my skin rather than it being super loose. It just means that you can layer on top of it nicely. My trouser journey was definitely a skinny trouser to begin with, but it only ever got wide enough to the point of those Margiela trousers that I was talking about.
But I've been going the other way again recently with these tapered trousers with big pleats, the Katherine Hamnett style. I never thought I'd go back to a tapered leg, but here I am literally sitting here right now wearing a tapered leg trouser that’s sort of gripping onto my shoe, and I’m really enjoying it.
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I’ve been wearing a vintage Bally hobo bag in black leather I got off ebay!
This slaps